2 Attachment(s)
Licorice Pizza Breaks Pandemic Box Office Record
Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film, Licorice Pizza, shattered a pandemic box-office record in its limited opening weekend. While Thanksgiving weekend saw the release of high profile films like Disney's latest animated film, Encanto, and Ridley Scott's House of Gucci, the latest film from Anderson saw a limited release playing in four theaters across the United States, two in Los Angeles and two in New York. Licorice Pizza was given a platform release, with a wide release set for Christmas 2021.
Licorice Pizza is a coming-of-age story starring Cooper Hoffman (son of the late great Phillip Seymour Hoffman), Alana Haim, Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Nick Nolte, Maya Rudolph, and Tom Waits. The film has received glowing reviews from critics, with a current rating of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 79 reviews. Licorice Pizza is Anderson's first film in four years since the 2017 release of Phantom Thread, and anticipation among many, including director James Gunn, is high as Anderson is as much a draw as names like Christopher Nolan or Wes Anderson.
According to Variety, Licorice Pizza brought in $335,000 in total over its first three days and $83,852 per location, more than any other specialty film in nearly two years. That beats the record previously set by A24's C’mon C’mon, which scored $135,447 on five screens — averaging to $26,889 per location. Licorice Pizza proved very successful with younger audiences as 72% of the audience was between the ages of 18 and 34 with 66% being male.
While older audiences have been the least likely to return to the theaters, the younger-skewing audience for Licorice Pizza could work out in the film's favor as a potential box office hit when it opens wider during December. Currently, Anderson's highest-grossing film is There Will Be Blood, which grossed $40 million domestically, and given the positive word of mouth and broad appealing subject matter, Licorice Pizza could perform just as well. The record that Licorice Pizza broke was also previously held by Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, which currently has grossed $33 million worldwide.
Licorice Pizza has jumped towards the pack as a potential Academy Award frontrunner which is likely to help boost its box office in the coming months. With strong word of mouth from critics and audiences likely to build, and the film receiving a wide release close to the end of the year, it could become an early Oscars frontrunner. Five of Anderson's previous films have been nominated for Academy Awards (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread) while both There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread scored Best Picture nominations. Licorice Pizza's box office record may just be the beginning of the story.
